Jaguar Land Rover in for bumpy ride as profits fall despite stellar sales May 30, 2016 The UK’s largest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover’s sales increased 28 per cent to 158,813 vehicles in the fourth quarter ended 31 March, thanks to a strong demand for the Jaguar XE compact saloon, nicknamed the “baby Jag”. Despite reporting bumper sales, the British luxury car manufacturer saw its pre-tax profits fall to £1.56bn, down from £2.6bn [...]
Superforecasting: How seemingly ordinary people can predict everything from world events to election results May 27, 2016 The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was having a stressful time in 2013. A rebel militia had just taken control of Goma, a large province with a population of about a million people, and regional powers were putting pressure on him to wrest it back by force. Little did he know that [...]
Mercedes-Benz GLS review: can it topple the Range Rover as the S-Class of SUVs? May 27, 2016 The trouble with making the best car in the world is that you become a target for everyone else obsessed with doing better. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a wondrous machine whose chauffeurs, so often seen parked up in London watching the in-car TV, should count themselves very lucky indeed. But they’d be luckier still in [...]
Jekyll and Hyde at the Old Vic review: Toe-tappin’ fun, if a little shallow May 26, 2016 The Old Vic | ★★★☆☆ Much is unfamiliar in this dance adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde – the lurid suits, the jazzy score, the fact that Jekyll is reimagined as a doctor of botany. That there’s little tying the production to RL Stevenson’s source material is testament to the enduring power of Dr Jekyll, a character [...]
Romeo and Juliet at The Garrick Review: Richard Madden and Lily James love it up in this Mafioso-themed production May 26, 2016 Perennial favourite Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly a great play, but it’s not always a good production. We all know the story – dumb rich kids making stupid choices – but for jaded modern audiences, it can be a struggle to care. Cynicism has encouraged a gimmicky approach in recent productions, with increasingly elaborate re-imaginings [...]
Are you a GloMad or Tumbleweeder? Discover the London housing tribes that’ll be determining the property landscape May 26, 2016 Every week, City PM invites an industry professional to write about an emerging trend in the property market. Are you a MeCo, a Tumbleweeder, or perhaps a My Sizer? These are London’s new housing tribes. Through Strutt & Parker’s latest Housing Futures research, we discovered that 65 per cent of Londoners who intend to move [...]
Property Entrepreneurs: Johns & Co founder John Morley on how he plans to improve landlord-tenant relations May 26, 2016 For too many of London’s flat dwellers, their experience of property management has been wondering why repairs take so long and why calls for help go unanswered. Part of the problem lies in the fact developers have little long term interest in management once they have sold all the apartments in a scheme, so, all [...]
Blue/Orange at the Young Vic review: This 16 year old snapshot of a malfunctioning NHS still feels all too relevant May 26, 2016 Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange was first performed at the National Theatre way back in 2000, roughly four hundred years ago now, but its depiction of an inter-bickering and resource-deprived NHS remains painfully relevant. Today it’s about pay. Back then it was all about beds. How many we’ve got, how many we need, and how many sick [...]
Blood, guts and dead foxes abound in bio-disaster horror Human Animals May 26, 2016 Who doesn’t love foxes? Those pointy orange chaperones of the night. Those bushy tailed wardens of the bins. Not quite a dog, but not quite a cat either, so-called scientists have yet to explain away their alluring vulpine mysteries. In dystopian horror Human Animals, the foxes (along with the pigeons and the mice and every [...]
Focus On Deptford: First time buyers flock to SE8 in search of affordable homes, but is it the new Shoreditch? May 26, 2016 In Tudor times, Deptford was the centre of the naval world. Operated by the Royal Navy from the mid-16th to the late 19th century, the Deptford Docks maintained warships for 350 years and attracted the greatest mariners of the time to its shores, from Sir Water Raleigh to Sir Francis Drake. But once the navy [...]
